Telling the time to the nearest minute | Year 3 Mathematics PDF Download

How to tell the time

• An analogue clock typically displays numbers 1-12 in a circular fashion and consists of two hands: a long minute hand and a short hour hand.
• The minute hand measures minutes while the hour hand measures hours.

Telling Time to the Nearest Minute

• Understanding 'Past' and 'To': When the time is after the hour but within the first 30 minutes, we use 'past.' When it's before the hour but after 30 minutes past, we use 'to.'
• Descriptive Time Phrases: Common descriptive phrases like 'quarter past' and 'half past' are used to tell time, but it's important to also specify the exact number of minutes past or to the hour.
• Minute Intervals: The space between each number on a clock represents five minutes. By observing the minute hand's position, one can accurately determine the time to the nearest minute.

Examples

Example 1: What time is it?
Sol:
It is 6 minutes to 8.
Example 2: What time is it?
Sol:
It is 4 minutes past 5.

Solving time problems through reasoning

Let's look at the clocks below that have either their minute or hour hand missing. Can we still tell the time to the nearest minute?

Example 1: This clock is also missing its minute hand. What might the time be?
Sol: 

We can see that the hour hand has gone past the 1 but has not quite yet reached the 2.
The hour hand is closer to the 2 though so that means the time must be later than half past 1.
We can't say exactly, but the time must be around quarter to 2.

Example 2: This clock is missing its hour hand. What might the time be?
Sol:

We can see the minute hand is showing 18 minutes to the hour.
The time could be 18 minutes to any hour though - we can't say for sure.